The SEI helps advance software engineering principles and practices and serves as a national resource in software engineering, computer security, and process improvement. The SEI works closely with defense and government organizations, industry, and academia to continually improve software-intensive systems. Its core purpose is to help organizations improve their software engineering capabilities and develop or acquire the right software, defect free, within budget and on time, every time.

Software Solutions Division

addresses the challenges presented when software-reliant systems must deliver critical capabilities without compromising timing, functionality, or coordination. Research focuses on enabling development of high-confidence cyber-physical systems and on adapting mobile devices and sensors to best serve first responders and warfighters operating in resource-constrained, unstable environments.

Systems that rely on software are evolving in ways that
present developers and acquirers with ever-increasing challenges. The SEI
Software Solutions Division (SSD) accelerates innovation in the areas of
development, acquisition, and sustainment to achieve competitive advantage in
current and future software-reliant systems by assuring quality, timeliness,
trust, and affordability.

The goal of SSD is to produce and transition to practice
methods, technical solutions, and services that measurably improve
software-reliant systems, ensuring that critical mission capabilities are
achieved in a predictable, affordable, and sustainable way. SSD work applies
across a range of system types including autonomous, data-intensive, adaptive,
cyber-physical, and mobile.

SSD

uses an interdisciplinary approach to advance the
science, practices, and technologies that form the foundations of future
software-reliant systems

directly delivers solutions to the DoD and the
defense industrial base

enables widespread adoption of associated
knowledge and practices to improve the current and future software engineering
and acquisition workforce

Led by Edward H. Deets, SSD pursues this approach through
work in these areas:

Client Technical Solutions support and accelerate the delivery of software to the DoD, intelligence community, and federal agencies by accessing, leveraging, and integrating leading-edge software capabilities, increasing mission assurance and value to the end user, increasing agility and affordability, and reducing risk and acquisition time of major defense programs. SSD has a strong understanding of client software trends and challenges in development, acquisition, and sustainment and uses that knowledge to identify possible solutions, tailor existing techniques, build new solutions through innovation, and provide important feedback into research activities to enable collaborative, tailored, applied research.

The Software Engineering Measurement and Analysis initiative
develops quantitative models and methods to inform program decisions, conducts
research to characterize and evaluate software engineering practices, and
develops and manages databases to support research into software engineering
and acquisition practices.

The Architecture Practices initiative advances architecture technology and practices for incremental, cost-effective
development and evolution of assured and flexible systems capabilities at all
scales.

The Team Software Process initiative develops and matures
software engineering process technologies and practices for use in critical
applications where system reliability, software quality, program execution, and
delivery commitments are critical to mission success.

The Critical System Capabilities initiative addresses the challenges presented when software-reliant systems must deliver critical capabilities without compromising timing, functionality, or coordination. Research focuses on enabling development of high-confidence cyber-physical systems and on adapting mobile devices and sensors to best serve first responders and warfighters operating in resource-constrained, unstable environments.